The officiating crew that worked the Connecticut-Marquette game on New Year’s Day apparently struggled with discerning left from right — and with the rules of the sport they were paid to officiate.

At the start of overtime between the Huskies and Golden Eagles, UConn lined up facing the basket directly in front of the home bench, and vice versa — which was the opposite of the way the teams finished regulation play.

None of the officials corrected this error as the teams prepared for the center jump to start the extra period, and official Michael Stephens delivered the toss, which UConn won before proceeding to attack what turned out to be the wrong basket.

When UConn guard Shabazz Napier executed a pretty backdoor cut, took a feed from teammate Ryan Boatright and saw his shot goaltended by Marquette’s Jamil Wilson, it seemed the Huskies had begun the extra period with a two-point lead — even if it was clear to those of us in the audience that UConn was attacking the wrong goal.

When the officials gathered after the goaltend was called, however, they decided the basket should not count and that Marquette should be awarded the ball on the alternate possession rule. So the refs not only took the points away from UConn, but the ball, as well. Marquette scored on the possession that was awarded and eventually won, 82-76.

As Rob Dauster of NBC Sports pointed out, the refs did not get the rule interpretation right.

He quotes NCAA Rule 5, Section 1, Article 3:

“When the official(s) permits a team to go in the wrong direction, and when the error is discovered all activity and time consumed shall count as though each team had gone in the proper direction. Play shall be resumed with each team going in the proper direction.”

The Napier basket that was goaltended surely represents “activity” and should have counted.

Official Karl Hess, working the game along with Stephens and Mike Stuart, released a statement that acknowledged the error — but only after sort of blaming “the players” for lining up improperly.

"The players went in the wrong direction. Because we allowed that to happen, the only thing that was wrong is there was a goaltend on the play. We should have scored the goaltend and given Connecticut two points for that.”

Next time, they might also want to consult a rule book before making a decision, not after.